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  • Virtual Offerings
    • The Choir Loft >
      • Jan. 3 - Climbing the Musical Stairway to Heaven - Bob Worth
      • Jan. 10 - The Passion of Yeshua - Steve Osborn
      • Jan. 17 - A Statement of Belief - Amanda McFadden
      • Jan. 24 - Hector Berlioz, L’Enfance du Christ - Dan Solter
      • January 31st - A Love Song - Dianna Morgan
    • Virtual BachTalk >
      • Jan. 13th - Swimming with Claudio
    • Madrigal Mondays
    • Chorale Wednesdays
    • Motet Fridays
    • Parliamo Italiano! Language Workshop
    • Virtual Recording Projects
  • Virtual Concerts
    • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
    • Music for these Distracted Times - Barefoot All-Stars
    • Agave Baroque American Originals
    • Bach's Long Walk to Lübeck - Anne Laver, organ
  • Who we are and What we do
    • Mission Statement
    • Pandemic Mission Statement
  • Our Ensembles
    • Sonoma Bach Choir
    • Circa 1600
    • Green Mountain Consort
    • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Escrip & Amazon Smile
  • Resources
    • Concert Programs
    • Scores & Parts
  • Contact
  • Join our Mailing List!
Ave Maria by Josquin Desprez
For our first installment, what could be more appropriate than the mother-ship of all motets, Josquin's utterly perfect 'Ave Maria...virgo serena'.  Bob got to know this piece in an early music history and analysis course at SSU. (Thanks, Arthur Hills!) A bunch of us fell in love with it and worked it up for a little class performance.  After graduation, when I was doing my first (so-called) conducting with a small singing group called Mantichorus [Manticore (n.): Mythical creature with the body of a lion, head of a man and a scorpion's tail; said to charm its pre by singing in a melodious voice], I dug up the Josquin
(in C clefs except for the bass), and we made it a core piece in our repertoire.
It's so pure in structure and in melodic form! It incorporates crystalline imitative passages, Josquin's trademark paired duets, dramatic build-ups, a triple-time section in which the tenor sings the soprano line a beat later, and finally a stunning homophonic conclusion.
Download Score
Midi Practice Track
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